For as long as musicians, sound technicians and engineers have been trying to record and amplify music, hi-hat cymbals have always presented a problem known as “hi-hat bleeding”. Hi-hat bleeding is the spilling over of the sound generated by the hi-hat cymbals into the microphones of the other elements of the drum kit. The very nature of the sound waves (high-frequency) coming from the hi-hat as well as the proximity of the hi-hat assembly to the snare drum result in the unwanted sound of the hi-hat cymbal leaking into other audio channels via their microphones. No electronic countermeasure, no physical barrier, no sound-recording technique has so far provided a solution to the “hi-hat bleeding” problem.
To date, the only costly and time-consuming solution is to record the drums without the hi-hat cymbal, then record the hi-hat separately.
The need for a solution to this problem still fuels discussions between sound engineers, recording engineers and musicians.